It looks fine to me. Look at the branches. If they are not black or burned on the top the tree will do fine. Be sure to protect it from our hot summer sun since it does not have enough of a leaf canopy to provide its own shade. It will take a year or so for it to develop enough to tolerate full hot sun. You can use an umbrella or you can paint the tops of the branches with white latex paint.

Mulch heavily, at least four inches, don't disturb the roots, and give it plenty of water, but don't let water stand around it, especially if you have clay soil.

Likely to do better in the ground instead of in that pot.

Tree is probably fine.

Could some of the brown on the leaves may just be frost damage? Young trees are much more vulnerable to cold than established trees. My babies have browned leaves, while my big tree has none.

Is it budding out from any of the nodes?

Be mindful not to let the ties to the stake start to constrict the tree. I just got rid of the stake for a similar size tree.

And, yeah, transplanting to ground or at least a much bigger pot will do that plant a world of good.

This post was edited by yukkuri_kame on Sun, Feb 24, 13 at 23:29

Friends, thank you so much for the replies! I will keep the tree!

I had initially planted this tree in the ground. I planted it infront of a concrete wall. Since the wall was radiating so much heat, the tree would burn so i had to take it out. I put it in a 15gal container now, and want it to grow a bit in there until it is big enough to go in the ground. It has definitely started to bud from the nodes, so i am happy about that! :)

It is a jim bacon variety! I Hope it is tasty!

If you're interested in diversifying and you're close to here, I'd be into maybe swapping a bud or two to graft. Then you get 2-in-1.

And I'd get Jim Bacon which is on my list to acquire.

We are just about at last frost date, which means avocado grafting time.

I'm in Tujunga/Sunland, foothills north side of los angeles.

Thank you all for the help!

@ yukkuri Kame, i sent you an email! I live very close by, in la crescenta.

In my experience young Avocado trees all tend to look like crap after they've been out of the garden center a few weeks. Then they gradually establish, get their roots fully shaded the way they like them, and then look fabulous again. They are babies, so unless protected carefully they are vulnerable to too much heat, high pH irrigation, etc.. I put a 25% shade cloth over my baby 'Reed' last summer and it stayed good looking and unstressed through that really hot August and September we had.

The leaf edges look necrotic from the top to the bottom of the plant. On container grown plants this is usually a problem of salt buildup in the soil, or watering with water containing Boron or some other chemical. Frost damage would show up at the top of the plant. Al

Thank you all for all your input! Helped alot!

I just purchased a potted macadamia on Ebay, and it looks exactly like your avocado. It is going in-ground soon, and I'm pretty sure the advice given here applies!

La Crescenta. Wow! Grew up there! Childhood memories! Good luck with your avocados and grafting!

Suzi